The 16th Electromagnetic and Light Scattering Conference ELS-XVI

The 16th Electromagnetic and Light Scattering Conference (ELS-XVI) was held at the
University of Maryland/College Park, MD,
USA from 19-25 March 2017. It was build on the remarkable success of the previous ELS
conferences held in Amsterdam, Helsinki (twice), New York, Vigo, Halifax, Gainesville, Bremen, Salobreña,
St. Petersburg, Bodrum, Hatfield, Taormina, Lille, and Leipzig. The main objective of
the conference was to bring together scientists and engineers studying various aspects of light scattering
and to provide a relaxed atmosphere for in-depth discussions of theoretical advances, measurements,
and applications.

Venue

All conference sessions (except the Poster Session) took place in Room #2324 of the Computer
and Space Sciences Building (CSS, otherwise known as Atlantic Building; click here to see the
Conference Guide). To locate the CSS Building on the University of Maryland map, click
here
and look for Atlantic Building.

On-site registration and Opening Reception started at 5:30 pm and 6 pm, respectively, on Sunday,
March 19, in Quantum Café of the Physical Sciences Complex (PSC) which is adgacent to Atlantic
Building. The Poster Session was also held in the PSC.

Conference program and book of abstracts

The conference program is available here.
To see an abstract please click on its title. The book of ELS-XVI abstracts is available
here. Each Invited Review was allocated 30 min
(including 5 min for questions), while each
regular talk was allocated 15 min (including 3 min for questions).

Scope

The specific topics covered by ELS-XVI included (but were not limited to) the following:

new theoretical developments, numerical simulations, and laboratory measurements of
light scattering by nonspherical and morphologically complex particles and particle groups

detection and characterization of atmospheric particulates using laboratory, in situ, and
remote sensing techniques

scattering of light by terrestrial aerosols and clouds

scattering of light by oceanic particulates

scattering of light by solar system objects, exoplanets, and exoplanetary environments

Social program

The conference social program included the Opening Reception on March 19;
an informal tour of Annapolis, MD and the Conference Banquet
on March 22; and the Farewell Party on March 24. Please see the
Conference Guide for further information.

Topical issue of JQSRT

Following the highly successful ELS practice, we are soliciting papers for the ELS-XVI
Topical Issue of the
Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer (JQSRT) and hope
that you will want your state-of-the-art research to become part of yet another
benchmark collection of papers on electromagnetic scattering and its applications.
This Topical Issue will consist only of full-size papers documenting research either
reported at the conference or pertaining to the main topics of ELS-XVI. Extended abstracts
of conference presentations will not be considered. Each submission will be thoroughly
reviewed by at least two independent referees to ensure that all accepted manuscripts
satisfy the highest standards of scientific quality adopted for JQSRT. Again, this will
be a topical issue of JQSRT rather than a conference proceedings volume.

To expedite the
communication of your research results to the scientific community, each paper will be
officially published [including the year (tentatively 2017), volume, and page numbers] as soon
as it has been accepted, typeset, and proof-read. In other words, the authors of accepted
manuscripts will see their papers officially published without having to wait for the rest of the
manuscripts to get accepted. This accelerated publication protocol is the
most recent improvement in the JQSRT production process. The paper submission deadline is
15 June 2017.